Parish rule

The so-called community rule (formerly also sect rule ) is an ancient Jewish script in the Hebrew language that was found under the Dead Sea Scrolls . While it was still considered a kind of founding document of the Qumran community in older research , its literary character and function are now highly controversial.

Description of the text witnesses

The most important surviving manuscript of the work is denoted by the siglum 1QS (1Q names the place where it was found cave 1, S stands for the abbreviation of the Hebrew title "Serekh ha- Jachad " [see below] or for "sect rule"). This scroll is well preserved, only a few words are missing at the beginning of the work and at the bottom due to damage. There are a total of eleven columns of text. Since the manuscript 1QS offers the longest text of the municipality rule, it serves as the basis for research on the work, although the text forms attested in the other manuscripts may represent older stages of the text development.

Based on comparisons of the forms of writing , the manuscript is dated to the first quarter of the first century BC. The orthography shows the plene spelling typical of the Qumran scripts , especially in short words matres lectionis : Biblical things לא (“No”, “not”) becomes general לוא written, כי ("Because") mostly כיא. The suffix of the 2nd person singular masculine regularly has the formכה- instead of the biblical ך-.

Presumably, the 1QS scroll originally included other works, but these were found as individual parts. They are referred to as the “ community rule” (1QSa) and the “(rule of) blessings” (1QSb) and probably formed a kind of appendix to the community rule. On the back of the community rule is the Hebrew title - סרך היחד - received, which can also be found at the beginning of 1QS and can therefore be understood as its heading. The designation community rule is derived from him.

Further fragments of a total of ten different manuscripts of the municipality rule were found in cave four (Siglen 4Q255-264 or municipality rule ^a-j ), as well as two tiny fragments in cave five (5Q11). Some of the manuscripts from cave four offer very different versions of the text, which may allow insights into the genesis of the work.

content

The following brief table of contents is based on the column counting of the manuscript 1QS. The column is denoted by a Roman number, an Arabic number stands for the line:

I, 1-III, 12 Instructions for the admission of new members to “the Federation” and for an annual celebration of the renewal of the Federation
III, 13-IV, 26 so-called "two-spirit teaching": dualistic conception of the spirits and sons of light against the spirits of darkness or sons of wickedness
V, 1-IX, 25: Rules for the order of the community, especially a catalog of penalties
IX, 26-XI, 22 Instructions for prayer and a closing psalm

Relationship to other Qumran texts

The parish rule is particularly close to the Damascus script . Its end, which has only been preserved in fragments, has largely the same text as the community rule. Similarities can also be seen in the structure of the work and the terminology. However, there are also important differences in the arrangements and the choice of words. Most striking is probably the fact that the Damascus script - like the Community rule - uses the termעדה when talking about the group, use the church rule יחד. Assuming that both scriptures were created or processed in a community, conclusions could be drawn from the changes about a development within this community.

Text editions and translations

Philip Alexander, Geza Vermes : Serekh Ha-Yaḥad and Two Related Texts (= Qumran Cave. 4, 19 = Discoveries in the Judaean Desert . 26). Clarendon, Oxford 1998, ISBN 0-19-826981-1 .
Eduard Lohse (Ed.): The texts from Qumran. Hebrew and German with masoretic punctuation, translation, introduction and notes. 2nd, critically reviewed and supplemented edition. Kösel, Darmstadt 1971, ISBN 3-466-20067-9 , pp. 1-43, 283-285.
Preben Wernberg-Møller : The Manual of Discipline (= Studies on the Texts of the Desert of Judah. 1, ISSN 0169-9962 ). Translated and Annotated with an Introduction. Brill, Leiden 1957.
The Community Rule , text and English translation

literature

Michael A. Knibb: Rule of the Community. In: Lawrence H. Schiffman, James C. VanderKam (Eds.): Encyclopedia of the Dead Sea Scrolls. Volume 2. Oxford University Press, Oxford a. a. 2000, ISBN 0-19-513797-3 , pp. 793-797.
Sarianna Metso: The Textual Development of the Qumran Community Rule (= Studies on the Texts of the Desert of Judah. 21). Brill, Leiden u. a. 1997, ISBN 90-04-10683-9 (also: Helsinki, University, dissertation, 1996).

Remarks

↑ For a different structure see Knibb, Rule , 793f.
↑ Here the language usage in German is a bit confusing and unfortunate.עדה would be best to translate as "community", יחדhowever as a "community". In the English area, the community rule is called "Rule of the Community", the community rule "Rule of the Congregation".

[1] For a different structure see Knibb, Rule , 793f.

[2] Here the language usage in German is a bit confusing and unfortunate.עדה would be best to translate as "community", יחדhowever as a "community". In the English area, the community rule is called "Rule of the Community", the community rule "Rule of the Congregation".